We're going the the Bahamas...we just don't know where!

There is nothing like the statement, "you should probably give yourself off next weekend so we can go to the Bahamas." The only response to such a statement is "yes sir!"

So a week later we are standing in the airport, bags in hand, getting ready to board the plane.  We had joked when we were first asked the question that we had no idea where we were going and that was still true on this very early morning a few days before the new year.

45 minutes later we were in sunny Marsh Harbour headed towards sailing, swimming, and libations!  We had plenty of all of those that we captured with our new GoPro Hero 3+ silver Camera. Not a bad way to spend a few days of winter. Cheers!

The best spot on the boat!

I'm not sure either... This is a visual representation of what was going on in my head at the time.

Cuban cigars and grabbers punch! A knockout combination!

Yep, still down.

Well the boats already in the water...

This is the second part from the post "running with the big dogs."  We spent an arduous 5 days working and wondering how the boat was doing docked in the St. Pete Marina like a "real boat." We borrowed the Sequoia this time so there would be no trouble pulling the boat out regardless of ramp conditions.  Our plan was to drive down late, sleep on the boat, pull it out in the morning, and take it home to clean it.

We ended up deviating "slightly" from that plan.  In the morning we pulled the mainsail down and brought it to Island Nautical.  They are an official Doyle sail manufacturer and we had them size and replace the 4 battens in our main.  Over lunch (and drinks) we decided that we didn't really need to head back right away. After all the boat was already in the water and we had a newly battened mainsail that needed testing!

We provisioned at a local publix, reattached the main, and cruised out into Tampa bay.  By this point it was in the late afternoon.  We sailed aimlessly south in the beautiful cool evening until the sun set. We then tossed out the anchor and settled in for the night.  

The next morning we cruised back into the marina and pulled the boat out effortlessly albeit unwillingly.  Just like all of our short trips we were not even close to ready to pull out.  Maybe a longer trip would satisfy that feeling.

The trip was fun and unexpected. So much so that we did not even get pictures. (or at least ones worth sharing)  Now that we had the boat home it was time to start contemplating the next step. A wet slip!

Lake Harris night sail

It was the beginning of December and I was itching to go sailing.  I picked up the kids after school and we headed to lake Harris.  Knowing that it got dark at 5:30 and I couldn't pick the kids up until 3:30 I could tell we were going to be sailing in the dark. I actually love sailing in the dark.  It's quiet, peaceful, and beautiful especially under a brilliant canopy of moon and stars.

On the way out of the small bay at Venetian Gardens the kids were checking out a neat little island with a big stone structure, benches, and a covered pick-nick table.  Although they probably weren't expecting me to stop I told them that was one of the great things about sailing; getting to explore.  We climbed, skipped rocks, and explored.

Right at sunset we climbed back in the boat and headed out into the main portion of the lake.  It was beautiful and clear with a decent amount of wind.  Inevitably with the sunset came a chill in the air.  We tacked back and forth a few times before calling it quits.

My hope is these little trips will instill in Austin and Aaliah the sense of freedom, independence, and adventure that sailing has brought to so many people, including myself.

Sleepy panda!

Holidays Suck

I must admit this has been the best holiday season that I can remember.  That being said, I hate the holidays.  They are hectic, expensive, and stressful.  There is so much going on between relatives, family meals, buying presents, the restaurant being crazy with families in town, and the restaurant's catering side cramming 40 parties into 3 weeks.  I'm always so relieved to finally be through the grind of November and December.

This year was no exception. I did not expect to get many updates on the blog posted because that's how it goes for me. Now of course its mid January and life is throwing us another curve ball.  The restaurant has been sold and soon I will be jobless. Yea! Not that I like being jobless but the time to move on to the next stage in life is upon us. There are many good things on the horizon.

2015 promises to bring lots of sailing.  We put the boat in at a marina in Hudson, FL.  Its an hour and a half drive from the house but that is relatively quick and cheap in Amber's fuel efficient car.  We are very excited for it to warm up and spend as much time as possible out on the water.

This year also marks the birth of some kind of new line of work.  There are plans at the compound floating around to turn our "farm" into an actual farm!  We already have cows, chickens, and goats but soon want to ad turkey, ducks, and hogs.  We would be selling natural gmo free meat, eggs, milk and products we make from those.  There is also talks of starting my dream of a craft distillery in conjunction with the farm.  Very exciting stuff!

For now i will try to catch those playing along at home up on what we have been up to the last two months. And it's a lot! Cheers!

Aaliah's 6th Birthday!

My little punkin' pie turned 6 years old!  We spent the day at Busch Gardens in Tampa and had an awesome birthday party that night at Nana's house.

Kangaroos!

Hyenas! 

Meerkats! I think I see Timon.

You can tell she hated her face painting.

You don't have assault rifles and shady rainforest cafe terrorists at your 6 year old's birthday party?

Running with the big dogs: Sailing on Tampa Bay

The time comes when every little bird must spread their wings and fly. Although some little birds get eaten by a snake before they grow their first feather... You get my point though.  We borrowed a ford e-250 from work, loaded the boat, and hauled butt to Tampa Bay Municipal Marina.  They have a public ramp that is free to use and you are allowed to park vehicles with trailers there for 48 hours.

When we pulled the boat down from NY with the Sequoia it was a breeze compared to this Ford. Every semi that went by would push and pull us all over the road causing the trailer to sway unnervingly.  I could do 75 mph with the Sequoia, I never did over 60 with the Ford.

Anyway. We got there Wednesday after noon, spent an hour setting the boat, and waited for our opportunity to use the ramp between people pulling out.  It didn't take long to wait but I wanted to be sure that I wasn't rushed in case something went wrong.  We are still getting the process down for setting up and breaking down but we are getting better.  We had already gassed up and loaded everything in the boat so we parked the van and motored out of the marina.

What a cool experience that was motoring out into the bay for the first time.  Its not a lake.  There are boats and channel markers and stuff actually going on.  At first I thought that I would be too intimidated to go across the bay.  It was not long before we had sails up and were headed to the east side of the bay.

We made across and were working up north when dark set in.  We tossed out two anchors and settled in for the night.  We made dinner, had some drinks, and enjoyed each others company,  It was perfect.

The next morning was a mad dash to get Hercules to some grass to potty.  We bee-lined it to Shell Point Marina, not on purpose, it's just where we ended up.  I think he peed for 45 seconds straight.  We have since decided that we are going to [it was at this point in typing that I came up with the idea to get a plastic tray that would hold a 16x24 piece of sod to keep on the boat for Hurc to pee on. I googled several things to see what people have already done and now I have my next project in mind. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog.]

The week before when planning this trip i found a small island in the NE corner of the bay that looked very intriguing to me.  I was not sure that I would even be able to get across the bay let alone go to this little island until the night before I realized how close we were.  So we got in some great sailing on the way there with both jib and main in full effect.  The island is called Pine Key on a map.  I have learned since that it goes by another name, "beer can island."  Amber has actually heard of this island before while spending time here with friends on the Alafia River.

It has a deep and steep shoreline on the east side that allowed us to get real close with our centerboard and rudder up.  When we step off the back of the boat the water only came up to our knees. Which was wonderful because the water was really, really cold.  We spent some time walking around the sandy white shores and admiring the beauty of this diamond in the rough.  We got back on board and made lunch while watching other boats (no more than two others at any one point) come and go.  I took a much coveted nap, like I do very often on the boat, and let some of my lunch process in the warm fall sun.

It was a little later that Amber woke me with the news of what time it was.  We wanted to be on the west side of the bay by nightfall so we were close to the ramp to pull out in the morning.  We pulled anchor and motored around the island before raising the main an unfurling the jib.  We had a great fair amount of wind and made 3-4 mph across the bay.  Eventually we had to switch to motor or else we would be dodging channel markers in the dark.

It was dark by the time we reached the other side.  We coasted up as close as we dared to land by watching the gps and depth-finder to a spor right north of the St. Pier and tossed anchor.  We were in about 6-7 feet of water so we let out about 50 feet of rode and tossed out our secondary anchor.  Hooked in hard we relished in the beautiful scenery of the city-scape and the soft noises from a festival or event taking place just out of sight.  We were also treated late that night after dinner and while we were lounging in the cockpit enjoying drinks to several schools of feeding dolphins.  They were all parading in front of us glittering in the gentle moonlight shining over the bay.  Being out on the boat is never lack for magical moments.

Then the reality of morning comes.  Time to pack it up and get back in time for work.  This would be simple except for the fact that it was low tide. Which is less detrimental than the ramp where the water receded was covered in a thick, wet, slippery layer of sea-grass.  And when I say covered, I mean covered.  We started scrambling for options which were few and if we didn't pull out soon we would not have time to break the whole boat down and slowly drive back home in time for work.  We thought about looking for another ramp close by but that would take time to get the boat there and the tide was still so low that the ramp would have to be deep enough to keep the trailer wheels from falling off the end.  We also thought about just brushing the ramp off and praying the 2 wheel drive van could pull out 8000 lbs of boat and trailer with its full water ballast.  In the end we decided to suck it up and get a slip at the marina for a week.  It was all we could afford at the moment but it would give us a week to look at tide charts and pick a convenient day to come back and pick it up.

Parting with the money for the transient slip was a little sickening but luckily we were able to do it.  It did feel pretty cool to have the boat docked in the marina with all the other boats.  We had our own key to the docks, bathrooms, and lounge.  It felt like were part of this larger boating community.  

It was this experience and these thoughts over then next week, and beyond, that got us thinking that maybe having the boat docked somewhere would be the smarter was to go.  It cost about 60-70 dollars in gas round trip pulling the boat vs less than 20 in Amber's car. With regular use of the boat the savings in gas could basically pay for the marina fee. With the boat already being in the water we would be able to just jump on and go. No ridiculous setup. We would also be able to run down late at night after work, crash on the boat, and go sailing first thing in the morning.  It all makes sense as long as the boat is actually going to be used regularly. Which it will.  Decisions time! But for the present we still have to rescue the boat from the dock or pay another week. Stay tuned!

I love this picture

St. Petersburg

Just playing with my wiener...

Cool shot.  There is a passing sailboat on the horizon.

Pine Key. Also known as beer can island. Really cool spot.

Chartin'

Sunshine Skyway Bridge